Surah 33. Al-Ahzab

Indeed, in the Messenger of Allah you have an excellent example for whoever has hope in Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah often.

  - Mustafa Khattab

Ye have indeed in the Apostle of Allah a beautiful pattern of (conduct) for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day and who engages much in the praise of Allah. ^{3694 3695}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

We now have the psychology of the Believers,-God-fearing men, led by that pattern of men and of leaders, Muhammad Al-Mustafa.

Cf. xxvi. 227: see especially the last clause of that verse in a Makkan Sura, which was amply fulfilled in Madinah.

When the believers saw the enemy alliance, they said, 'This is what Allah and His Messenger had promised us. The promise of Allah and His Messenger has come true.' And this only increased them in faith and submission.

  - Mustafa Khattab

When the Believers saw the Confederate forces they said: "This is what Allah and His Apostle had promised us and Allah and his Apostle told us what was true." And it only added to their faith and their zeal in obedience. ³⁶⁹⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is in contrast to what the Hypocrites said in verse 12 above. The divine promise of help and success is contigent upon our striving and faith. Nothing comes to the poltroon and the sceptical idler. Dangers and difficulties, and conflict with Evil, are foretold us, and we must meet them with fortitude and courage.

Among the believers are men who have proven true to what they pledged to Allah.¹ Some of them have fulfilled their pledge 'with their lives', others are waiting 'their turn'. They have never changed 'their commitment' in the least.

  - Mustafa Khattab

  See footnote for 7:46.

Among the Believers are men who have been true to their Covenant with Allah: of them some have completed their vow to (the extreme) and some (still) wait: but they have never changed (their determination) in the least: ³⁶⁹⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

In the fight for truth were (and are) many who sacrificed their all-resources, knowledge, influence, life itself-in the Cause, and never wavered. If they won the crown of martyrdom, they were blessed. Such a one was Sad ibn Mu'az, the chief of the Aus tribe, the intrepid standard-bearer of Islam, who died of a wound he had received in the Battle of the Trench. Other heroes fought valiantly and lived, always ready to lay down their lives. Both classes were staunch: they never changed or wavered.

'It all happened' so Allah may reward the faithful for their faithfulness, and punish the hypocrites if He wills or turn to them 'in mercy'. Surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

  - Mustafa Khattab

That Allah may reward the men of Truth for their Truth and punish the Hypocrites if that be His Will or turn to them in Mercy: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful. ³⁶⁹⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Before Allah's Mercy there is always room for repentance and forgiveness, even after treason and crime; but the forgiveness will be according to Allah's Will and Plan, which will judge the penitent's sincerity and capacity for good to the nicest degree in his favour. Cf. also xxxiii. 17 above.

And Allah drove back the disbelievers in their rage, totally empty-handed. And Allah spared the believers from fighting. For Allah is All-Powerful, Almighty.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And Allah turned back the Unbelievers for (all) their fury: no advantage did they gain and enough is Allah for the Believers in their fight. And Allah is full of Strength Able to enforce His Will. ^{3699 3700}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

In spite of the mighty preparations and the great forces which the Makkans in concert with the Central Arabian Bedouins, the discontented Jews, and the treacherous Hypocrites, brought to the siege of Madinah, all their plans were frustrated. Their fury availed them nothing. They departed in hot haste. This was their last and dying effort. The initiative thereafter lay with the forces of Islam.

For the meaning of Aziz, see n. 2818 to xxii. 40

And He brought down those from the People of the Book¹ who supported the enemy alliance from their own strongholds, and cast horror into their hearts. You 'believers' killed some, and took others captive.

  - Mustafa Khattab

 The Jews of Banu Quraiẓah who had violated their treaty with the Muslims and sided with the enemy alliance. The Prophet (ﷺ) asked how they wished to be judged, and they chose to be judged by their book, the Torah—in which the penalty for treason is death.

And those of the people of the Book who aided them Allah did take them down from their strongholds and cast terror into their hearts (so that) some ye slew and some ye made prisoners. ^{3701 3702 3703 3704}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The reference is to the Jewish tribe of the Banu Quraiza. They counted among the citizens of Madinah and were bound by solemn engagements to help in the defence of the City. But on the occasion of the Confederate siege by the Quraish and their allies they intrigued with the enemies and treacherously aided them. Immediately after the siege was raised and the Confederates had fled in hot haste, the Prophet turned his attention to these treacherous "friends" who had betrayed his City in the hour of danger.

The Banu Quraiza (see last note) were filled with terror and dismay when Madinah was free from the Quraish danger. They shut themselves up in their castles about three or four miles to the east (or north east) of Madinah, and sustained a siege of 25 days, after which they surrendered, stipulating that they would abide by the decision of their fate at the hands of Sad ibn Mu'az, chief of the Aus tribe, with which they had been in alliance.

Sad applied to them the Jewish Law of the Old Testament, not as strictly as the case warranted. In Deut. xx. 10-18, the treatment of a city "which is very far off from thee" is prescribed to be comparatively more lenient than the treatment of a city "of those people, which the Lord thy God does give thee for an inheritance," i.e., which is near enough to corrupt the religion of the Jewish people. The punishment for these is total annihilation: "thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth" (Deut. xx. 16). The more lenient treatment for far-off cities is described in the next note. According to the Jewish standard, then, the Banu Quraiza deserved total extermination-of men, women, and children. They were in the territory of Madinah itself, and further they had broken their engagements and helped the enemy.

Sad adjudged them the milder treatment of the "far-off" cities which is thus described in the Jewish Law: "Thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: but the women and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself, and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee" (Deut. xx. 13-14). The men of the Quraiza were slain: the women were sold as captives of war; and their lands and properties were divided among the Muhijirs.

He has also caused you to take over their lands, homes, and wealth, as well as lands you have not yet set foot on. And Allah is Most Capable of everything.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And He made you heirs of their lands their houses and their goods and of a land which ye had not frequented (before). And Allah has power over all things. ³⁷⁰⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This part of the Sura is considered a prophecy. It may refer to the conquest of Khaibar. Khaibar is a Harrat or volcanic tract, well-watered with many springs issuing from its basaltic rocks. It has a good irrigation system and produces good harvests of grain and dates in its wet valleys, while the outcrop of rocks in the high ground affords sites for numerous fortresses. In the holy Prophet's time there were Jewish colonies settled here, but they were a source of constant trouble especially after Siege of Madinah. It became a nest of all the hostile Jewish elements expelled for their treachery from elsewhere. Its capital, Khaibar, is about 90 miles due north of Madinah. Its inhabitants offered some resistance, and Hadhrat 'Ali, though he had just risen from a bed of illness, performed prodigies of valour. After its surrender, a land settlement was made, which retained the cultivators of the soil on the land, but brought them under control, so that no further focus of active hostility should remain near Madinah. The terms of the settlement will be found in Waqidi.

O Prophet! Say to your wives, 'If you desire the life of this world and its luxury, then come, I will give you a 'suitable' compensation 'for divorce' and let you go graciously.

  - Mustafa Khattab

O Prophet! say to thy Consorts: "If it be that ye desire the life of this world and its glitter then come! I will provide for your enjoyment and set you free in a handsome manner." ³⁷⁰⁶

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

We now come to the subject of the position of the Consorts of Purity (azwaj mutahharat), the wives of the holy Prophet. Their position was not like that of ordinary women or ordinary wives. They had special duties and responsibilities. The only youthful marriage of the holy Prophet was his first marriage-that with Hadhrat Khadija, the best of women and the best of wives. He married her fifteen years before he received his call to Prophethood; their married life lasted for twenty-five years, and their mutual devotion was of the noblest, judged by spiritual as well as social standards. During her life he had no other wife, which was unusual for a man of his standing among his people. When she died, his age was 50, and but for two considerations, he would probably never have married again, as he was most abstemious in his physical life. The two considerations which governed his later marriages were: (1) compassion and clemency, as when he wanted to provide for suffering widows, who could not be provided for in any other way in that stage of society; some of them, like Sauda, had issue by their former marriage, requiring protection; (2) help in his duties of leadership, with women, who had to be instructed and kept together in the large Muslim family, where women and men had similar social rights. Hadhrat Aisha, daughter of Hadhrat Abu Bakr, was clever and learned, and in Hadith she is an important authority on the life of the Prophet. Hadhrat Zainab, daughter of Khuzaima, was specially devoted to the poor; she was called the "Mother of the Poor". The other Zainab, daughter of Jahsh, also worked for the poor, for whom she provided from the proceeds of her manual work, as she was skillful in leather work. But all the Consorts in their high position had to work and assist as Mothers of the Ummat. Theirs were not idle lives, like those of Odalisques, either for their own pleasure or the pleasure of their husband. They are told here that they had no place in the sacred Household if they merely wished for ease or worldly glitter. If such were the case, they could be divorced and amply provided for.

But if you desire Allah and His Messenger and the 'everlasting' Home of the Hereafter, then Surely Allah has prepared a great reward for those of you who do good.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

But if ye seek Allah and His Apostle and the Home of the Hereafter verily Allah has prepared for the well-doers amongst you a great reward. ³⁷⁰⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

They were all well-doers. But being in their exalted position, they had extra responsibility, and they had to be specially careful to discharge it. In the same way their reward would be "great", for higher services bring higher spiritual satisfaction, though they were asked to deny themselves some of the ordinary indulgences of this life.

O wives of the Prophet! If any of you were to commit a blatant misconduct, the punishment would be doubled for her. And that is easy for Allah.

  - Mustafa Khattab

O Consorts of the Prophet! if any of you were guilty of evident unseemly conduct the Punishment would be doubled to her and that is easy for Allah. ^{3708 3709}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"Evident unseemly conduct" i.e., proved misconduct, as opposed to false slanders from enemies. Such slanders were of no account, but if any of them had behaved in an unseemly manner, it would have been a worse offence than in the case of ordinary women, on account of their special position. Of course none of them were in the least guilty.

Cf. xxxiii. 19 and n. 3692. The punishment in this life for a married woman's unchastity is very severe: for fornication, public flogging with a hundred stripes, under xxiv. 2; or for lewdness (see iv. 15) imprisonment; or stoning to death for adultery, according to certain precedents established in Canon Law. But here the question is not about this kind of punishment or this kind of offence. Even minor indiscretions, in the case of women who were patterns of decorum, would have been reprehensible; and the punishment in the Hereafter is on a higher plane, which we can scarcely understand.

And whoever of you devoutly obeys Allah and His Messenger and does good, We will grant her double the reward, and We have prepared for her an honourable provision.

  - Mustafa Khattab

But any of you that is devout in the service of Allah and His Apostle and works righteousness to her shall We grant her reward twice: and We have prepared for her a generous Sustenance. ^{3710 3711}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Twice, i.e., once as a righteous woman, and again as a Mother of the Believers, serving the believing women and thus showing her devotion to Allah and His Apostle.

Sustenance: all that is necessary to sustain her in happiness in her future life.

O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women: if you are mindful 'of Allah', then do not be overly effeminate in speech 'with men' or those with sickness in their hearts may be tempted, but speak in a moderate tone.

  - Mustafa Khattab

O Consorts of the Prophet! ye are not like any of the (other) women: if ye do fear (Allah) be not too complaisant of speech lest one in whose heart is a disease should be moved with desire: but speak ye a speech (that is) just. ^{3712 3713}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

This is the core of the whole passage. The Prophet's Consorts were not like ordinary women, nor was their marriage an ordinary marriage, in which only personal or social considerations enter. They had a special position and special responsibilities, in the matter of guiding and instructing women who came into the fold of Islam. Islam is a Way of Life, and the Muslims are a family: women have as much place in Islam as men, and their intimate instruction must obviously be through women.

While they were to be kind and gentle to all, they were to be guarded on account of their special position lest people might misunderstand or take advantage of their kindness. They were to make no vulgar worldly displays as in the times of Paganism.

Settle in your homes, and do not display yourselves as women did in the days of 'pre-Islamic' ignorance. Establish prayer, pay alms-tax, and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah only intends to keep 'the causes of' evil away from you and purify you completely, O members of the 'Prophet's' family!

  - Mustafa Khattab

And stay quietly in your houses and make not a dazzling display like that of the former Times of Ignorance; and establish regular Prayer and give regular Charity; and obey Allah and His Apostle. And Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you ye Members of the Family and to make you pure and spotless. ^{3714 3715}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Obedience to Allah's Law sums up all duties. Regular Prayer (seeking nearness to Allah) and Regular Charity (doing good to fellow-creatures) are mentioned as special features of our Religion.

Ahl al-Bait: i.e. the household of the Prophet (S.A.S) which includes his wives as well as his daughter Fatima, his son-in-law Ali and his grandsons, Hasan and Husain generally in accordance with the narrative of Umm Salama.

'Always' remember what is recited in your homes of Allah's revelations and 'prophetic' wisdom.¹ Surely Allah is Most Subtle, All-Aware.

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Allah’s revelations refers to verses of the Quran whereas prophetic wisdom refers to the sayings and teachings of the Prophet (ﷺ), known collectively as ḥadîth.

And recite what is rehearsed to you in your homes of the Signs of Allah and His wisdom: for Allah understands the finest mysteries and is well-acquainted (with them). ^{3716 3717}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The verb is uzkurna, feminine gender, as referring to the Azwaj again. It means not only "remember", but "recite", "teach", "make known", "publish", the Message which ye learn at home from the holy Prophet, the fountain of spiritual knowledge. The "Signs of Allah" refer specially to the verses of the Qur-an, and Wisdom to the resulting Instruction derived therefrom.

Cf. xxii. 63 and n. 2844. Allah's understanding is perfect in every detail, however minute. Therefore use His Revelation for every phase of life.

Surely 'for' Muslim men and women, believing men and women,¹ devout men and women, truthful men and women, patient men and women, humble men and women, charitable men and women, fasting men and women, men and women who guard their chastity, and men and women who remember Allah often- for 'all of' them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.

  - Mustafa Khattab

 Though Islam and Îmân are sometimes used interchangeably in the Quran, Îmân is a higher state of Islam. A Muslim is someone who observes the five pillars of Islam, but a believer is someone with strong faith, who does everything purely for the sake of Allah, and is mindful of Allah in everything they say or do. Every Mu'min (believer/faithful) is a Muslim, but not every Muslim is a Mu'min. See 49:14.

For Muslim men and women for believing men and women for devout men and women for true men and women for men and women who are patient and constant for men and women who humble themselves for men and women who give in charity for men and women who fast (and deny themselves) for men and women who guard their chastity and for men and women who engage much in Allah's praise for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward. ^{3718 3719 3720}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Islam, or submitting our will to Allah's Will, includes all the virtues, as particularly specified in this verse. See n. 3720.

A number of Muslim virtues are specified here, but the chief stress is laid on the fact that these virtues are as necessary to women as to men. Both sexes have spiritual as well as human rights and duties in an equal degree, and the future "reward" of the Hereafter.

The virtues referred to are: (1) Faith, hope, and trust in Allah, and in His benevolent government of the world; (2) devotion and service in practical life; (3) love and practice of truth, in thought and intention, word and deed; (4) patience and constancy, in suffering and in right endeavour; (5) humility, the avoidance of an attitude of arrogance and superiority; (6) charity, i.e., help to the poor and unfortunate ones in life, a special virtue arising out of the general duty of service (No. 2); (7) self-control, typically in food, but generally in all appetites; (8) chastity, purity in sex life, purity in motive, thought, word, and deed; and (9) constant attention to Allah's Message, and cultivation of the desire to get nearer to Allah.